Live from Japan: The FT 8790 Review - Page 7  

Battery update
Left the unit sitting home all day yesterday charging. When I got home, I hit Power to see what would happen. Unit powered up just fine. Not sure if that had any negative effect on the battery's life or not. Guess I'll just have to wait and see. I was kind of thrown by the battery's behavior. Definitely different than my Sony VAIO. The VAIO I can run down completely and if I plug it in, can boot up no problem. Since I'm used to that sort of system, it threw me out of whack to have the 8790 not boot once the battery was drained.

Looks to be ok for the time being. Life's a little better. Click on the Windows Update doowhammer yesterday and let it DL while I was out and about. I don't have any icons telling me that updates have been DL'd and ready to install, though. Guess I should reboot and then check Windows Update and see if new evil's been added to my puter.

Microsoft XP SP2
Just installed SP2 with no apparent problems. Just before installing SP2, I was having issues with Semagic's LJ client and noticed after several install/uninstall iterations, the icons in the Semagic directory were artifacting. Not so much a Semagic problem as the vidcard problem slowly worsening, I'm sure. However, things seem to look a little better with SP2. Not talking about the look of Windows, which is different, rather the artifacting seems to be lessened at this point. Don't expect that fact to last long, but it's an interesting point nonetheless.

Sager has stated that it's a hardware issue and should be returned for service. However, I've not yet contacted Warrantech in regards to the Export Option. Problem is, I just bought a rig, so I'm short of cash this month. According to the wording in the Export Option documentation, I pay for any repairs and then they pay me back if they decide it was a covered repair (which I'm sure they would- just kind of an irk anyway). Next month I've got plans to be in Osaka which makes my money supply short for that month. After that, I've got to buy snow tires, making October's money supply short. Therefore, I'm trying to eek out as much time as I can, really, until I can figure out how to make money grow on a few trees around here.

So basically, the vidcard is dying. That's confirmed by Sager. Problem is now in my court as in how to deal with it. No matter what happens, I'm out a lot of money, so it's not necessarily a happy situation. Even considering sending it back, having it fixed and having a friend sell it in order to get a new machine. The top half of the case needs to be replaced (Sager said they would replace it and several keys or the keyboard itself) and the vidcard is toast. I wouldn't mind having the WSXGA+ screen, so altogether, it might be easier to go the new route because no matter what, it looks like quite a money is involved.

Will post details as I continue.

Have noticed that I haven't heard the fans ramp up to speed in a long time. I'm wondering if something w/ the fans is hosed and caused the vidcard to overheat and toast itself.

However, this might also be due to the BIOS upgrade I did as requested by Sager. It didn't work, I might add. When I push F10 to ramp the fans up, they ramp up to High, but the system beeps and one of the 3 lamps at the bottom of the screen flashes and then the system simply shuts down.

Regular running is fine, but that's all this system is good for now. It's a word-processing beastie

Keyboard
Keyboard's acting up again. Was typing a password in and the 3 key wasn't giving me any 3's. Pressed it numerous times and it worked intermittently. Hmph. I'm wondering if it's related to the video problem in some way. Years ago, I had a Fujitsu P133 and had several keys go bonkers on me after about 5-6 months and FutureShop (bane of the UNIVERSE!) ended up shipping it back to Fujitsu for a motherboard replacement. Not too long afterwards, the same problem reared up. They lost the laptop after that, so the issue was never fully resolved.

But that being the case, it makes me wonder if the Sager's doing the same kind of thing. The F10 fan controls are FUBAR and result in sudden termination of power altogether after beeping/flashing. The vidcard is toast. Just wonder if it's all related or if it's a domino effect or if I've just got multiple gremlins @ work inside my beast.

Thanks, Wesley. I figure it's par for the course for me. No matter what I own, there are always grumpinesses involved Not really surprising. Definitely discouraging, though.

BIOS is Phoenix version 6 (during a restart, it looked like it said V122 somethingorother). Everest Home Edition didn't give me any info beyond the PhoenixBIOS ver. 6. Date given was 06/30/04

For the Video, I have 6.14.10.6436 ATI Catalyst 4.4 drivers. Says 3/22/2004 for the date on those (odd since I updated just a couple weeks ago w/ the newest from Sager's site). Maybe a difference between when they're started and when they're released...

The Continuing Adventures of Artifacting
Lately, I tried playing Civ III: Play the World and have had success in playing it w/o any artifacting at all. Not that I get to play a lot, but at least there are moments when I can sneak a move or three in. Figured I was at least stable for non-3D rendering apps, anyway. Well, flush that theory down the drain last night. Left the computer on (as usual). Had a handful o' bittorrents DLing, though. That was new. Firefox was running, as was Trillian. AVG in the background, MSN & Horus time clock. Other than the bittorrents, the other programs are generally running 24/7 on my computer. Woke up this morning to full artifacting (similar to what I experienced when running games and returning to the desktop as shown in previously posted pics). That was quite the surprise. Interesting that torrents were working my system harder than Civilization III.


Have been wanting to get this computer squared away, but it's a matter of getting enough dolares to do the deal. Whether it's fixed here in Japan or by Sager in the States, it's going to cost a fortune. Actual costs of motherboard replacement if fixed here or shipping costs to and from the US if done by Sager. Makes it hard to get anything started.

Near RMA
C key has been acting up the last couple days. That and the fact that the artifacting has gotten to the point where simply closing Firefox can cause a full-blown episode tells me that the end is near. Problem is, I simply can't afford either of the 2 options for fixing this (shipping back to the US or having it fixed here and paying first, then being reimbursed later). Come December, I could afford it. But not right now. My options are what I take the warranty to mean, however. I haven't spoken w/ Warrantech directly, so it might go more smoothly than I imagine. A talk with them will happen soon as it's frustrating to be in the middle of work and have the screen go crazy.

Frustrating.

If I can get a working 8790 going without spending a fortune and taking forever, I might just have to work on the super-happy one

Thanks for the advice, Francis. Not sure I'd go with a Dell, just because the screens I've seen in Sapporo in person weren't very good at all Granted, I haven't seen all the models, so I could be missing out, but dang- they need to get on the ball with the ones that are on display up here. Very, very dim Something to keep in mind, tho' if and when the time comes for a new unit.

I just contacted Warrantech today and I need to find someone "local" that can/will fix it (or at least give me an estimate on repairs). If Warrantech feels that it would be cheaper to send it to Sager rather than fixing it in Japan, then it sounds as if they might pay for shipping to and from the US. That actually sounds like a good deal to me as

A) I don't trust anyone over here to fix something like this,

B) I do trust Sager to do a professional job in repairing the problem,

C) Sager will replace my case, too, if they receive it since it started showing wear within the first week of me having it.

Although I'm poor at the moment, if it goes back to the States, I'm considering getting it sent to PCT for a paint job so I don't have to see a brand new case go bad within a week of getting it back. Figure I can swing it on a credit card 'til December if I do it that way. And heck, might see about a WSXGA screen while they're at it if I'm going to pull the CC out. Hate to do it (I've got a $25 balance on it right now- rather keep it at zero), but hey- sometimes ya gotta live

Now just gotta get ahold o' Tom and see if that's a workable situation. But first- off to see if there's someone local that'll give me an estimate on fixing this.

Thanks, Ratmyr. Thinking about your machine is painful- beautiful little red machine. I think it's the best looking 8790 I've seen. Glad to hear that Hypersonic took care of you. And glad to hear that you're back running strong.

I've emailed Clevo direct about authorized service centers in Japan and am going to try another place or 2 that I know of that carry Clevos here. Try to get things on the ball. Appropriately enough, the 8790 started artifacting full-time (generally is ok if I Shutdown or Restart), so I guess it's giving up now that I'm getting things squared away (or maybe it's just jealous that I'm using my old VAIO again- good thing I didn't get rid of this like I thought of doing).